First, There Was Wisdom

by Pastor Kathy Barlow-Westmoreland

This week's focus scripture is Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31

This past week as I have pondered this unusual text, where wisdom, an attribute of the Trinity, is made human and given voice, I have wondered about all the times we so need wisdom and yet it sometimes eludes us. On the Memorial Day Weekend, it is our hope and prayer that wisdom is used before leading our nation into war, so that lives are not needlessly lost ( I say this as the niece of a Korean War veteran who never came home, leaving a wife and toddler son, a war that still asks us if it did what we hoped). As I watch the news reports from the Gulf of Mexico, I think about our need for our wisdom to be ahead of our desire for more, and ahead of our technology. Yesterday, as I sat with a friend whose brother’s cancer continues to spread, I think about what wisdom is needed to make decisions that support his quality of life- again, just because we have more technology doesn’t mean we have the wisdom about when to use it. Life at all levels hands us daily decisions that require more wisdom than knowledge from us; more insight, more of the ability to discern, than simply to know. And so, perhaps it makes a great deal of sense that we pause for a moment, and listen to what Lady Wisdom (or Madame Insight at Eugene Peterson calls her) has to say to us.

Let’s start with where we find Lady Wisdom…she isn’t in some dark corner, hidden away, nor is she with the elite Ivy Leaguers…she stands at the main crossroads at the city gate. The busiest intersection with the most people. She wants to be heard by the masses…not just the well educated, not just the morally upright, not just those with position or status. In fact, her first words tell us she is talking to everyone- all of us, regardless of race or class or lifestyle. Her message is for all people.

What is it she has to say to us? First and foremost she lays out her credentials- the wisdom of God has existed before creation- she was there as the foundations of the world were laid. So in creating this world, God did not just start flinging stars randomly in the sky or arbitrarily mix DNA to create animals, bird and fish. There was a purpose, an order, a WISDOM, to creation. Which, by the way, in the whole evolution/creation debate puts God’s work heavily in the evolution corner- after all, what has more order than the evolutionary process?

And we are part of that wisdom filled creative process. And as those whom the psalmist this morning declared are just a little less than God, we are distinctive in that we are the only order invited into a relationship with the divine wisdom. Wisdom’s relationship to God, we are told, is one of joy. The New English Bible puts it this way: Then I was at his side each day, his darling and light, playing in his presence continually, playing on the earth, when he had finished it... What a wonderful image, that God’s relationship with wisdom is one of joy and delight, certainly one of love. And now wisdom’s delight is with us.

Thus, we learn wisdom is something of the heart, not just the mind. For the Hebrews, the heart was the center of emotion, but also rational thinking, observation, imagination, desire. And the heart was universal, for we all have one, and so wisdom seeks to speak to our hearts. Just as wisdom joined with God in creation, so now wisdom seeks to join with us in our living in the creation. We are called into a relationship with wisdom so we will know how to live in this good creation.

Yet this is where the difficulty comes. For to be in a relationship with the wisdom of God, means to set aside our own agendas. Someone once said, that wisdom is what’s left after we have run out of personal opinion. Sin has made us foolish this way, for we are quick to form opinions, before we have all the facts- watching the unfolding of events in the Gulf is certainly evidence of our quickness to jump to conclusions before all the facts are in place.

You see, sin has made us believe the lie, the myth that WE can create world new every morning and do it in ways that are custom designed to suit us, our world view, our goals, our desires. Sin clouds our ability to see the consequences our actions might have in a given situation- consequences not only for us but those around us and succeeding generations. Sin only has our eyes on immediate results, immediate gratification.

But wisdom looks further out on the horizon. Wisdom looks for the ripple effects. Wisdom is not quick to speak, but is quick to listen and observe. Wisdom sits quietly, working to discern meaning and purpose, looking for coherence and order. She seeks to make sense out of all the information, technology, ideas, opinions and find God’s leading in it.

Does it make the hard decisions easier or less painful? Unfortunately, no. Leaders will still have to decide whether to send soldiers to war. Oil companies and governments will still have to decide when it the right time to drill, if at all. Sisters and husbands, son and friends will still have to make life and death decisions no one should have to make. But, when we rely on wisdom that just ourselves, there is a peace in whatever decision is made, and that makes all the difference.

Wisdom desires to be in us. To enter our hearts and be in relationship with us. Just as wisdom joyfully joined in the creative process at the beginning of time, so she wants to joyfully enter into our lives, bringing order to our chaos, purpose to our aimless wandering, meaning to our existence.

You see, wisdom, according to scripture is not something we can attain, or learn or own. It, like grace and love, are gifts of our God. Wisdom, like God, comes to us, when our hearts are open, and we are ready to be silent and listen, rather than just wait for our turn to talk. Think of those you consider wise…do they not first listen and listen, perhaps ask questions, before ever giving a response? Do they not ponder and consider, observe and take in information before ever speaking? Are they not slow to judge but quick to give “the other side of the coin”? These are hearts that opened and Lady Wisdom walked right in…and the relationship is one of joy and delight and love.

Wisdom is just one more way that God seeks us out in love. For the good of creation, for the good of all people, for our own good. Wisdom stands are the intersection and calls out- are we listening? Amen.

St. John's Westminster Union Church
1085 Neeb Rd. Cincinnati, Ohio 45233
(513) 347-4613